


No Escape.

by TeeCup



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Abuse, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Child Abuse, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Keith is a Mess, Lance is Worried, M/M, NOT SAD, No Smut, Romantic Soulmates, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt, Underage Smoking, also they don't know each other as soulmates, also they share a dreamworld, also this is very dramatic, find ya soulmate, keith is sad af, lance flirts with all, more like numb, they can feel each other's pain, they can hear each other's thoughts, they forget the faces and names in their dreams, where is waldo status, yeah the voices in their heads aren't the same voice
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-21
Updated: 2018-09-21
Packaged: 2019-07-15 08:00:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16058900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeeCup/pseuds/TeeCup
Summary: Keith is past feeling sad and is bordering on numb. His life was perfect until his dad died when he was ten. Now he is a foster kid, forced to submit to an abusive father and a mother who shows him no care. He wants out, and God does he try. Despite this, the world just doesn't seem to want to let him die.Maybe it's because of his soulmate. He's been through it all with him - literally. In a world where soulmates can hear each other think, feel each other hurt, and meet up in their dreams, will Keith be able to find happiness? Or at the very least, escape from his personal hell?





	No Escape.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Keith thinks about previous attempts, attempts again, and finally lets Lance in the loop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you're ready for the biggest mix of soulmate aus I've ever done at once. Just to list the few that will be in here.
> 
> You can feel your soulmate's physical and emotional pain.
> 
> Soulmates can hear each other's thoughts and communicate through them (but the voice they hear is not exactly the same as their real soulmate's voice), but all names are muffled out.
> 
> Soulmates share a dreamscape, but once they wake up they can't remember the name or face of their soulmate (until realize they're soulmates in real life).
> 
> Also Keith is 17 and so is Lance.
> 
> Okay okay sorry, read on!

**\- Focus: Keith -**

 

“Keith? Keith, what's the matter?”

This had happened before, twice to be exact. He was honestly amused that Lance was still surprised by the matter.

He was fourteen the first time. Having lost his dad four years before, Keith had just gotten used to the foster system. It was cruel to him, sticking him with the worst possible parents he could think to have. Todd, a heavyset bearded man, beat him mercilessly since the day Keith arrived. He claimed it was for his own good but Keith wasn't sure how. The man carried himself with an aura of superiority, forcing Keith to shrink down below him. Normally he was strong, at least on the outside, but something about Todd’s cold and nearly grey eyes made him stand down. Jessica, Todd's wife, was a bit more lenient. She was a thin woman, honestly probably in an unhealthy way, and her blond hair covered her eyes when she wanted it to. Her eyes were just as terrifying, lacking any sense of emotion at all. Keith laughed looking back, as he feared the way she seemed to lack a soul. If only he knew that just seven years later, he would have that same stare. She, too, feared her husband. She did nothing to stop him from hurting Keith. She allowed it in order to save herself. She never touched Keith, she just showed him no attention whatsoever. A few dollars to eat, some new clothes here and there, but never a word. The most she said to him was to wake up before school and to come downstairs for dinner.

Perhaps that was why Keith decided he was done one day. Perhaps that was why he spent the entirety of his Sunday night watching the sunset on the top of their tiled roof, the cold breeze both comforting and tiring. Perhaps that was why he finally pulled out the rope he'd hidden in his closet for a year. He had grown numb, honestly, which he felt was unfair to the boy he saw in his dreams and heard in his head. Had _he_ noticed the change? The day Keith stopped hurting and just went blank, the way their conversations seemed to grow boring and his responses small, or even how Keith simply didn't dream as much as he used to?

He supposed he had to know. The voice in his head said so, after all, worry lacing its tone as Keith climbed a stool to tie his rope. A smile tugged at his lips as he heard, _“Hey. You okay?”_

Keith wondered what gave it away. Maybe he was thinking too hard about what that bastard Todd had done. His mind was swirling in anger and fear, but that wasn’t what he was feeling, he felt nothing. In his head, though, he questioned why it had to be him. Why his dad had to go. Why nobody adopted him. Why. He cleared his mind but his heart lurched at the thought of his soulmate caring. That wasn't helping the situation. Now the numb feeling morphed into sadness, an apologetic atmosphere overtaking him. The voice in his head just grew more worried. _“Buddy, we can talk this out. Let me in. Please.”_

Keith stepped off.

Keith woke up.

Keith moved on.

The next time he was sixteen. His soulmate yelled within his head, wondering if Keith was okay. This time was because his foster father beat him within an inch of his life, telling the police  that he got jumped. Keith didn't say otherwise. What was he supposed to say? His foster father was actually a raging maniac who beat his wife and son but would never allow them to actually die in fear of realizing how terrible he truly was? That would accomplish nothing. Keith would just be relocated, and knowing his luck, he would end somewhere just as bad - perhaps worse. So he allowed this, and allowed his life to be saved a second time. His heart beat on, much to his dismay.

This time?

He was seventeen.

Things had gotten no better. If anything, it all increased. He was hit more often, he never emoted anymore apart from anger, he lied to his soulmate about what was going on, and he almost never slept. It felt like when he was fourteen, only worse. So what else to do but repeat his attempt, only ensure his death this time? It had to be quick, something that would end him instantly, or at least something he couldn’t come back from. Again, his soulmate’s voice echoed in his head and Keith wiped his mind clean. He moved without thinking.

Which brought them here.

Keith sat down in their dreamworld, a sigh escaping his lips. Today they were on a beach, probably some beach from Cuba. That's where Lance was from, after all. Usually he controlled where they were in their dreams. Lance sat down too, worry plastered over his face as he answered what Keith had been wondering. “It’s Varadero. If you’re wondering. Now will you tell me why you seem so...off?” Keith reached over to him, a hand on his cheek as his thumb rubbed over it. “You're going to get frown lines doing that.” Keith avoided the question, so of course Lance brought it back up.

“Keith. I couldn't sleep because _/you/_ were in my head, calling for me.” He remembered, of course. He did it every single time. He would apologize to Lance when he believed he was going to die. Sadly, he would always show up in the dreamworld shortly after as his body slowly gave out. He was saved every single time, waking up in a hospital room after leaving the dreamscape.

So Keith assumed he hadn’t died, at least not yet. His brain was still active.

“Keith, what happened? Do you forget I can feel your pain? Like... All of it?” Again, he remembered. This was why he told Lance he often got into fights, to hide what was happening. When he tried to hang himself and Lance felt the choking sensation, Keith told him that he had been in a choke hold. What could he say now? It had been a different kind of pain.

He had shoved a knife in his chest.

Keith lied on the spot. “Car crash. I think. It's fuzzy…” The look on Lance's face let Keith know that he bought it. He was worried, but he understood. Lance’s blue eyes moved to stare at the waves, his legs coming to his chest as a gentle breeze blew through his hair. Keith’s simply slapped him across the face. Lance finally spoke again, avoiding Keith’s eyes. “Oh… Is it like the time you got beat up? And you passed out because you almost-” Keith cut him off with a “Yup”, popping the P as he let out an exhale. His mind was really fuzzy, that wasn't a lie. This was where they had to wait and see. Would Keith wake up or would this be their last shared dream before his brain shut down? He technically could be dead now, the last of his consciousness being used to see Lance. He assumed Lance thought of that too because soon the taller boy was trying to hide his tears. Keith frowned, pulling the other into his chest. He sighed again, shaking his head.

“I really care about you, you know?” Keith spoke lowly, eyes closed.

Lance laughed bitterly. “Famous last words?” He blinked rapidly as he pulled back, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. His dark skin almost hid the redness around his eyes but it was still visible enough for Keith to see it.

“Maybe.” Keith shrugged, forcing a smile at the other. “Or maybe not. The world is cruel like that.” They had joked about it before. Lance didn't know the gravity of it all so to him he could joke about it once Keith was okay. Keith just went along with it, though it didn’t truly bother him. Lance rolled his eyes, his smile slowly returning as he spoke. “Yeah. Gosh, why can't it stop showing me this ugly mug of yours?” Again, it was a joke they both understood. Lance pulled Keith into a hug mid-sentence, tears coming down again. He could sense it. Keith knew it.

They knew his consciousness was slipping. It was now or never.

Keith opened his mouth to speak but Lance beat him to it. “I'll find you. If… if this is it. I'll look up teens in car crashes. I- I'll be there for you. Even if-” A sob wrenched his body forward and Keith's eyes widened in panic.

This wasn't fair.

“Fuck. Lance, wait.” He stood up suddenly, turning away and pacing. He couldn't die letting Lance think this. He had to tell him the truth. “It wasn't that. I lied. It was me. I did it.” Lance blinked, standing in confusion. He was talking, Keith couldn't hear him anymore. He kept rambling. “All those times. Well, no, two. I lied. It wasn't a car accident or a choke-hold. Neither of them were accidents. It was me. I was-” He rushed forward and was suddenly falling. He watched Lance run towards him, trying to catch him. Everything went black.

* * *

And then he was seeing white. White walls. White sheets. White gown. _Oh no._ Keith searched the room, finding himself in a hospital bed. His limbs trembled, tears came to his eyes, his breath hitched as he sat up. He turned to the monitor beside his bed, watching his pulse jump across the screen in an irregular manner. Regardless, it was there. He was there. He was alive.

_“I woke up when you fell. You're fine, right? Hey, answer me. I'm scared. Please. Say something.”_

Keith's entire world shattered as he screamed, sobs coming rapidly and loudly. His hands tore at his hair, eyes squeezed closed as he broke. Despite this, his thoughts were calm.

_“I was right.”_

There was a long silence in his mind before his soulmate replied. _“What do you mean?”_

 _“The world_ /is/ _cruel.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everything I use in terms of foster care and medical issues will be a mix of what I researched, what I've been told by friends, and then probably a little bit of dramatics for the sake of plot.
> 
> Also as of right now, format isn't my biggest concern. I know the proper way to space and how to do dialogue but honestly I've been roleplaying too much to care for that anymore. If someone wants to help me edit, I'd appreciate it. Otherwise it'll stay this way.
> 
> Also, lastly, bear with me when it comes to tags and stuff. I read on AO3 but the last fanfic I wrote in full was back in my Wattpad days.


End file.
